Don't Close Your Eyes
by zhakeena
Summary: A stormy night brings Riku back to his island again, with his memory partially gone and a wing on his back. What the hell happened? Updated. :)
1. Prologue: A Storm

**Don't Close Your Eyes **

Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts is not mine! If you know enough, you know to whom it belongs to… and if you know enough too, you'll know that the song "Whisper" isn't mine too. (KH is Square-Enix's and Disney's; "Whisper" is Evanescence's, just in case you don't know anyway.) Oh, yeah, I remember another fic entitled "Don't Open Your Eyes", it's a KH fic too, but it has nothing to do with this one, promise! Please, I'm just a kid addicted to acoustic sounds and oregano! 

**Prologue… A Storm **

The dark clouds gathering up there, blocking the sapphire sky seemed foreboding. Gradually, yet quickly, the clouds covered up the entire sky, and the beach was shrouded. Slight rumbles can be heard from a distance. The moment the first lightning bolt flashed across the horizon, drops of rain simultaneously fell and wet the ground. 

He was watching the whole time as the storm started before his eyes. He was watching the people on the beach leave one by one, yet he didn't feel like budging from his spot. He remained there, leaning against the Paopu Tree, letting himself get wet from the rain. 

Whatever. He felt empty right now. And he didn't feel like asking why. 

Maybe it was just another one of those moments. 

Another 10 minutes standing in the rain, he still didn't move from his spot. The winds were howling. Various coconut leaves that were swept away lashed against him. When it was really getting bothersome, and getting cold, he decided to let himself drown in the rain another time. 

He turned to leave, prepared to go in the seaside shack. 

He paused. Turned around. He sensed movement from behind him.

Nobody on the islet made the sound. It came from the now-violent sea. 

Funny how he sensed that something with life made that sound. He walked a bit forward and shielded his eyes with one gloved hand. 

There… almost to the shore. Something was fighting the violent waves, trying not to drown. 

No, make that someone. A someone with long hair and—was that a wing?!

Realizing that a person was in danger, he hurriedly jumped off the bridge and ran towards whoever the survivor was. He reached the water and swam towards the person. Grabbing a part of the unknown's shirt, he had managed to drag the person towards the shore. 

"Hey… oh, no, are you still breathing?!" he gasped out, staring at the someone he had just saved. 

The person's eyes were wide open. But it seemed that—he or she? It was too dark to tell—was unconscious. This someone was too disturbing to look at, and yet—

Then, it dawned upon the rescuer. 

"Hey… It's you!" 

***

Author's notes: Nyahahah! Enjoying so far? I can imagine… So far, no traces of the Evanescence song… it would appear at a later chapter, my friend. Still formulating ideas at this point, though… Hmn. 

Anyways, have you anything violent to say at this point? You can say 'em all through a review. Okay, ta-ta for now!


	2. A Critical Moment

**Don't Close Your Eyes **

Disclaimer: Nothing and Nobody that exists in Kingdom Hearts is mine. 

**Chapter One: A Critical Moment **

Sora was panting hard as the rain pelted mercilessly on him and the man he had just rescued. "D-don't worry… It's just a short walk and we'll reach… we'll reach Aerith's house… she'll take care of you, promise!" he gasped as he dragged him across the wet sand. 

The man didn't make a sound, but he was shivering violently. 

_Just a few more meters… can't I go any faster?! I think he's gonna die already! _Sora thought angrily. As he got nearer to Aerith's lighted house, he felt more adrenaline pump through his veins. _Almost there… _

***

Kairi had been watching that silhouette moving closer and closer to the house. She peered out, but was still unable to recognize the form… until a flash of lightning shone on them, and Kairi was able to see their faces. 

It was Sora… dragging a very wet man with him. It took a moment for Kairi to realize that the man with Sora was somebody she knew… and another moment for the situation to click in her brain. 

Kairi dashed outside to help Sora, but as she left, she yelled, "Oh my god… Aerith! Come quick! Sora found Riku! And I think he's _dying!!!_" 

***

Sora and Kairi leaned against each other, all wet and exhausted from what's suddenly happening before them. 

Like a doctor shooing away the patient's family, Aerith made them wait outside the room as she and Yuffie started treating Riku. It was lucky that the nearest house from the shore that Sora approached was Aerith's, because she was as good with restoring people's conditions as professionals were. 

The two of them were silent. Both were too overwhelmed to say anything—that is, until Cloud arrived and handed both of them towels. 

"Thanks," they mumbled simultaneously. 

Cloud nodded. "You two'd better stop worrying so much. I think you found him just in time, Sora. He'll make it," he said reassuringly. Then he turned to leave the room again. "Hey… there's soup in the kitchen if you're interested," he said before he left. 

Sora wiped the towel on his face and sighed. "I can't believe it. Riku's alive all this time!"

"Yeah," Kairi replied, using the towel gratefully, "but I never expected him to arrive like this, and in that condition…" 

They fell in silence again. Both were thinking about the strangest thing about Riku that night—that large, black wing that seemingly had sprouted from the right part of his back. 

"Well, we'll ask Aerith anything we want tomorrow… let's get some soup…" Sora said, and he and Kairi followed Cloud's footsteps earlier. 

***

The darkness. 

He found himself swimming in it again… like he has for what felt like a lifetime now… 

He thought he was drowning, but somebody had dragged him out of there sometime ago. Now where was he? He had been hearing voices, but he vaguely recognized them… now the voices are all just mixed up in his brain. The confusion didn't help him in his suffering… 

What's that? A small point of foggy light, just in front if his line of sight… 

Okay, he was obviously dying, because that's the 'light at the end of the tunnel' thing that people nearing death often see. And quite frankly, he was willing to die and see any kind of light—whether it be the holy light of Heaven or the fiery light of Hell. Anything, just to get out of the darkness… 

_"There's too much water in his lungs… CPR! Now!" _

He understood someone's voice from the outside world. Once he had heard that voice, he felt himself drawn to the light. 

_"His wing's broken… what do we do with it?" _

And closer to the light. 

_"Uh… wait, give me a moment… wait, I can feel some pulse now…" _

And closer again. The light was shining brighter at this point. He felt more hopeful, feeling that he would wake up anytime soon… 

He felt someone's hand… dragging him away from the light… just when he was feeling most hopeful… 

_No! I have… to get to the light! _He told himself determinedly, as he used an unknown force to let himself into the light itself… 

_"His eyes…" _

***

Author's notes: Hm, I know some of you saw that coming… Anyways, yeah, winged being is Riku! Got a problem with that?! And, no, I didn't get the concept of "one black wing" from his lookalike Sephiroth; I could just swear that Tetsuya has one artwork of Riku having one wing. Or maybe I just have very bad eyesight. Whichever. 

And, sorry, I know nothing of these medical procedures for rescuing drowned victims, so the last scene might have some senseless things in it…

On to writing the next chapter…


	3. Awaken

**Don't Close Your Eyes **

Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts isn't miyeeen!

**Chapter II: Awaken **

"His eyes…" Aerith said softly, amidst Yuffie's confusion and panic in trying to revive the unconscious boy lying on the bed.

All throughout the process, Riku's eyes had been open, only the whites showing. It had been disturbing looking at him because it was as if he was possessed, or blind. Now, his eyelids moved, ever so slowly, shutting his eyes closed.

Then, he breathed deeply. And his eyes opened widely and suddenly. As if he had awoken from a terrible nightmare. He was gasping hard, as if he had just been rescued from drowning.

Aerith smiled in relief. "You're awake…"

Blurs of colors appeared before his eyes. Voices were all mixed up inside his head, but he knew that they were from walking, breathing, living people around him.

_"I'm awake…" _he thought to himself happily.

The first specific thing he saw was the smiling face of a woman with long, brown hair and was wearing a pink dress. "You're awake," she had mumbled to herself happily, loud enough for him to hear. He was still too tired to smile back, but he felt comforted by the woman's face.

That is, until her face fell. She noticed something. The girl with the black hair who was rejoicing behind her stopped too. "Aerith, is there something wrong?" the girl asked.

Aerith looked at Riku's face again. She shook her head in denial but said, "I… I'm not sure, Yuffie. Get Cloud over here. He'll know."

Yuffie bolted towards the kitchen at Aerith's command. Cloud was there, watching Sora and Kairi stare at their already finished bowls of soup. "Uh… what are they doing?" asked Yuffie.

"They won't sleep until they know that Riku's going to be alright," Cloud replied. "So, what's wrong?"

Yuffie shook her head. "Uh… Aerith wanted you to go there… Seems that something might be wrong," she explained, trailing off when she noticed that Sora and Kairi's faces fell.

"What? What's wrong with Riku?" Sora asked, worry etched over his face.

"I'm not sure! Riku just woke up, you know. But you can't go there yet!" she yelled before the two hopped up to their feet. Turning to Cloud, she whispered, "I dunno what Aerith thinks is wrong, but she told me you would know. Let's go. Sounds dead serious."

Riku felt his weakest at those moments. Aerith was wiping his face with a warm towel, but still, he felt no heat. Only drowning coldness. He tried to speak, ask the woman what she found was wrong with him, but no other sound than his teeth chattering came from his mouth.

A few moments later, through his half-closed eyelids, Riku saw a red-caped man with spiky blonde hair enter the room with the girl called Yuffie. He approached Aerith, mumbling a few words. They talked for a while in low tones. Later, Cloud turned to Riku and crouched a bit so their faces met.

Riku bowed down, discomforted. But the man didn't stop staring. "Riku… look at me," he said in a commanding tone.

Surprised that this unfamiliar man knew his name, Riku looked up. Once their faces met again, the man's gaze locked on to his eyes. _What the hell is this guy doing? _A voice in his mind annoyingly piped up. _Oh no… there's something wrong, isn't there? _

The man finally stood up and shook his head. Aerith, in a small voice, asked, "Cloud? Was I right?"

Sadly, he nodded. "Yeah. His eyes are definitely glowing…"

Yuffie gasped. "So, that means…"

"Yeah…"

Yuffie bit her lower lip and walked out of the room. Cloud walked over to a corner of a room, shaking his head. Aerith sighed and held her forehead sadly.

_What's going on? I wish they'd just make sense… _Riku was already screaming in the depths of his mind, but all he could do in the tangible world was cough. Aerith rushed to him and rubbed his back.

"Riku… All you could do for now is rest…" she said in her comforting voice. At the sound of her words, part of him wanted to sleep already, but the stubborn part of him wouldn't sleep until he knew what was wrong.

"What… what's..wr…" was all he could say in his state.

She smiled sadly at him. "We'll tell you when you're strong enough to remember it. I don't think you'll remember anything happening at this moment… I can promise you though… Sora and Kairi wouldn't know it first than you. Now, rest."

_Sora__ and Kairi are here? _He had managed to ask himself before the room slowly faded to black, and he felt himself slumbering and forgetting the not-so-distant past.

-----------

Author's notes: Oh Hyne, I suck at descriptive writing… sighs Practice until you die, I guess.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter because I didn't. (Kyaah) What's wrong with Riku? Maybe you'd have a few cloos if you've played and remembered FF7. That's it. Leave a review, if desired or able!

05-27-04: Like my other KH fic, this was finished since April, but I didn't have the will power to post it. Sorry!


	4. The Children

**Don't Close Your Eyes  
**Written by: zhakeena  
Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts is Disney's and Square-Enix's property.

**III : The Children**

_Rest… _Aerith had told him. _All you could do now is rest._

"How could I? It's so dark in here…" Riku thought.

Indeed, it was very dark in the place he found himself in… probably somewhere in the dark recesses of his mind, he concluded. There was an absolute absence of light in that place; even as he tried very hard to adjust his eyes in the darkness, he still cannot see anything.

"Is it cold in here?" he asked himself, feeling his arms. He can't distinguish cold in the atmosphere… but he was sure that it was supposed to be freezing there. After all, he was all alone. That usually follows being cold.

"Hello there."

Riku turned around sharply. "Who's there?!" he asked, his voice echoing throughout the void.

Suddenly, a yellow orb appeared out of nowhere… and above it, a face hovered. Its owner smiled. "Oh, it's you. Hello!"

Riku examined the boy, who he now realized was just carrying a candle. Blonde hair, red eyes, very pale. He was as tall as him, but he looked so much younger. But… he didn't recognize the boy at all. "Who are you? And what is this place?"

The boy smiled at him warmly, but Riku noted the coldness in his eyes. "You don't remember me?... Oh well, doesn't matter. We're waiting for you there, you know," he said, taking Riku's hand.

"What?!" Riku pulled his hand back. He stared at the boy in curiosity. "Where do you plan on taking me?"

The boy smiled mischievously. "Oh, you know… you've spent a ton of time there. Unless… you want to stay in this void?" he asked.

Riku raised an eyebrow. "No," he finally answered. "But I don't think…"

"Nonsense! You promised to play with us… my sister and I," the boy answered, taking his hand again and leading him in a direction he can't distinguish.

"Do you know where you're going?" Riku asked worriedly. He was sure that in the darkness, he was bound to hit something or lose his way, but the boy just kept going.

"Yes… don't worry about me, Riku… I practically live in the darkness…" he replied, his voice sounding very distant.

---

Finally, the boy stopped. Riku wanted his hand back, but the boy held onto it firmly.

"Don't let me go… not until my sister gets here… I might be lost again…" the boy suddenly told him, his voice hushed in fear.

Riku looked at him. "Lost? How? We're not moving," he asked.

The boy smiled sadly. "This place… we're both terrorized in this place, Riku, don't you remember? You suffered so much…" he closed his eyes. "But as long as the three of us concentrate on playing, we'll have fun! And we'll have fun, instead of being scared all the time!"

"I… was here?" Riku said, looking around. The glow of the candlelight didn't reveal any other objects in the space they're standing in. "Wait… where's your sister?"

He felt a finger tap on his shoulder.

Riku turned to face the person. And found a little girl with long black hair standing there.

She smiled, her hair covering her eyes. "Hello, Riku."

"What?" Riku asked, surprised.

"You came to play with us… right?"

Riku shook his head. "I barely remember anything… I don't know… I don't know," he said, shaking his head even more in confusion. The children were frightening him out of his wits so much that he can't think straight.

The girl's face fell. "Riku… why are you so confused? Don't you wanna be with us?" she asked, hurt evident in her voice.

"But… I'm lost! I don't have time to play with you guys, okay?" Riku said impatiently. "I'm sorry, but I really can't remember you… I don't even think that I've met you two before…"

Brother and sister looked at him with cold eyes. "We've suffered so much, Riku… but you've managed to escape. You abandoned us…" the boy said, his eyes darkening. "But we didn't hate you for that…"

"We believed that you'll come back for us, Riku. So we can play again. We saved you from being lost in the many worlds out there…" the girl said, her voice somewhat accusing.

"All we wanted to do when we see you again is to play with you… so we won't suffer so much…"

Riku blinked when he realized that the two children were hugging him tightly.

"We'll play again, won't we, Riku?" they asked.

Before Riku could reply, he felt pain surge through his veins. "Wha… what are you doing?!" he yelled when he realized that the two children were the ones causing the pain.

"You promised that we'll meet again… death is the only way…" one of them replied.

Riku wasn't so sure which of them was talking anymore. He felt his heart weakening at every breath he took… the light he saw from the candle slowly faded.

Before he knew it… he wasn't breathing anymore…

---

Author's notes: I wish that creeped you out, somehow. After all, I wanted this to be a horror story. Wouldn't be much of a horror story without a good scare. Hmm… who are the two kids? I'm still making up my mind about that.   
Was this thing too short, though?... Oh yeah… I think somebody asked if there were going to be couplings in this story. I'm not so sure about any pairings yet. No shonen-ai, though. At least, I hope so.   
I'm sorry if I couldn't update this story quickly enough. School's about to start, you see. Xx Panic… panic… Oh well, see you at the next chapter…


	5. Mutation

**Don't Close Your Eyes  
**Written by: zhakeena  
Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts is Disney's and Square-Enix's property.

**IV: Mutation **

He felt his eyes open.

He instantly sat up, feeling air rush through his lungs. _I really wasn't breathing? _He asked himself, grasping at his chest, feeling that his insides were very exhausted.

Then he noticed that he was in a bed.

_Where… am I? _He looked around the room. It wasn't anything special, he thought, just a normal guestroom with normal furnishings here and there… his nostrils picked up the scent of the sea water through the window behind him. _Am I… back on my island? _

He looked around again. Somehow, the homey ambiance of the room seemed foreign to him.

_What did I expect to find here, anyway? _

(A white room, with chemicals displayed here and there, wires coming from a big machine attached all over him, computers monitoring his every breath…

Two children staring up at him as he floated in a chamber filled with sickly, green fluid…)

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard the door open. A woman in a pink dress with her brown hair in braids, and a spiky haired blonde man wearing a red cape entered the room and approached him.

"Hi. How are you doing?" the lady asked him.

Riku tried with all his might to remember who they were… but he couldn't. "I'm… fine," he replied uneasily.

The woman giggled. "I'm guessing you don't know who we are… I'm Aerith, and this is Cloud," she said, pointing to the man, who looked at him coldly.

Riku nodded. "What happened? How did I get here?"

"3 days ago, your friend found you drowning at the sea. You almost died; you were lucky he found you in time. And during a storm too." Cloud replied.

Riku tried hard to remember. And he did remember; a storm, the water entering his lungs, lightning flashing in the sky… but he could barely remember anybody rescuing him. "Which friend are you talking about?"

The man and woman looked at each other. "Well… Sora. I guess you can't remember anything at all?"

"Sora…" as he mumbled the name, fragments of his memory formed the image of a boy with brown hair, carrying a large key. "Sora… yes, I think I remember him now," he said, finally realizing who he was.

"You should take this whole remembering thing easy, Riku… you're still a little unwell," Aerith told him, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Why? Was I in a shock or something? I should still have my memory with me, since I've recovered from drowning now…" Riku said.

The way the two adults looked down on the ground, he felt like he should brace himself for the truth. "What? Is there something more?..." he asked uneasily.

Cloud pointed to something at his shoulder. As Riku followed his gaze, he felt himself choke. "Wha… wha…" he stammered, feeling the enormous black wing on his left that had somehow sprouted from his back.

"Riku… you're infected with Mako."

"What? How?" he yelled. Aerith held on to his shoulder again to calm him down.

"See for yourself, Riku…" she said slowly, taking out a mirror. Riku took it, and uneasily looked at himself. For a while, he just stared at his reflection, until he noticed it—a faint green glow from his eyes.

"That's a sign of Mako infection…" Aerith explained. "And your wing must have been a mutation of some sorts…"

"Wait… could you explain first what Mako is?"

Cloud sighed. "Well… for now, let's just say it's a very dangerous source of energy to play with…"

Riku dropped the mirror on the bed. He held his head with his hands and bowed down. _What happened, anyway? Who could have done this to me..? _

For the rest of the time there, nobody spoke. Afterwards, Cloud and Aerith decided to leave the boy alone for a while, perhaps to give him time to take all the facts in.

_**XXooOooOXoooXOooXXXXo**___

Aerith sighed as she closed the door behind them. Cloud looked at her with concern in his eyes.

"I wonder… how could he have gotten his hands on Riku?" she asked him.

Cloud shook his head. "I honestly don't know…" he said.

"I thought… we've made him disappear for good…"

"Yeah…" Cloud put an arm around Aerith. "I just hope he didn't do anything else to Riku… at least we know that he's in good hands right now."

Aerith forced a sad smile. "Yeah… he is…"

_**XXooOooOXoooXOooXXXXo**___

He was allowed to roam around the Island again. After all, he had proven that he could walk properly again, and parts of his memory that mattered had come back… As long as he didn't exhaust himself, he could walk around the beach area.

But he didn't do much walking like he'd planned to, after being trapped in his bedroom for a week since he had waken up from 3 days being in a coma. Instead, he found himself again at his favorite spot when he still lived there—the bent Paopu tree.

Riku sat staring at the sea. Sora had claimed that he almost died at that same sea…

But at that moment, Riku didn't believe him. The sea seemed so serene, so unthreatening… almost being friendly to him, even though he just stared at it.

His moment of peace was disturbed when the growth at his back twitched slightly.

He curiously looked at the wing. He certainly didn't make it move. He briefly thought that maybe it has a mind of its own…

But then he saw what had made it twitch; a little girl was hiding behind it. She must have been tempted to touch the black feathers all over it, since people had told him that it was beautiful for a mutation…

"Hey," he called out to the girl.

She went out from behind the wing. Her eyes almost hidden, she faced Riku and smiled. "Your wing is beautiful…" she said in almost a whisper.

_**XXooOooOXoooXOooXXXXo**___

Author's notes: Oh! I didn't realize that this was finished already… (cheesy grin)

Next chapter in the works. I might revise the plot of this story since the original one was lame by my standards…


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